Out For The Weekend
by Lantern High
Summary: HS AU: Aya. Razer. Walker. A glimpse into their everyday life after school ends... With a dash of Razaya


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Chaos.

Pandemonium.

Celebration.

Lantern High School was out for the weekend!

* * *

—Aya's Day—

Aya calmly packed her backpack and shouldered it onto one shoulder as she stood. She could hear Mister Jordan down the hallway yelling at the homeroom students in his classroom as she dodged people in the quickly filling hallways.

The classroom was empty of all except Hal when she arrived, and she nodded to him. "Hal."

"Aya, you heading out again today?"

"Affirmative. I wish to explore the city further, and I wish to locate the tiger."

Hal shook his head, and Aya calculated that the emotion felt was 80 percent exasperation. "There are no tigers in Comic City. If there were, Mayor Editor would be encouraging the entire city to hunt it down."

"I saw what I saw, and I will continue searching until I relocate the animal."

"Just remember to take a picture, okay?" Hal grinned at her, and she smiled back as she nodded. Her brand-new phone (gift courtesy of Ganthet) had a built in camera. She had upgraded the camera herself, and took it upon herself to understand all the mechanics of the phone until she could pull apart and reassemble the phone without needing to look.

"Affirmative. Also, I desire to buy new yarn for knitting. Is there any recommendations you can give me?"

The knitting club had been a bust. Nobody had arrived to make time worthwhile, as Razer was the only other attendee. But Razer, unfortunately, had been put into anger management classes by his parents, making it impossible for the darker skinned teen to attend the club.

Thus- Tiger hunting.

Aya placed her backpack next to Hal's desk, and picked up her smaller bag that contained a fully stocked survival kit for twenty-four hours, and looped the bag around her shoulder like a purse. "I will be home by five o'clock."

Hal nodded, already staring at the stack of papers left to be graded. "Got it. If you're going to be late, don't forget to call me."

"Affirmative."

Aya trotted sharply out the front door, pulling up a mental map of Comic City. The city was usually divided into four parts. The Avenger High controlled a third of the city, and Justice High controlled the second third, depending on unknown circumstances. X-men High and Lantern High fought over the remaining third, but each High School had its own home ground.

The tiger had not appeared in any areas occupied by Avengers, nor X-men.

Through careful plotting and analyzing of data compiled by looking through local web sources and listening to men talk and determining how truthful they were based on interpolation of sources available Aya had determined a pattern of sorts.

The first sighting had been several years ago, around Justice High, in an area formerly controlled by the Fawcette Gang. The rest of the history was muddled and confused, but Aya was unconcerned as it was unconnected to her current pursuit of Tiger Hunting.

The teen reached into her bag to pull out the currency she had on her. So far, Aya had tried a total of four hunting plans, each of them ultimately unsuccessful.

Plan one: Bribe the Tiger with Food. Aya had spent hours researching a tigers diet, before deciding that freshly slaughtered pigs in parks were against several city ordinances. It was also out of her price range. Thus, she fell back on an old movie she had once seen, and left out a trail of Reeses Pieces.

While the tiger had appeared, it ignored the Reeses, and went straight for a leftover hamburger lying out. Her net trap hidden in the ground went ignored.

Plan one: Unsuccessful.

Plan two: Concealed Steel Box Trap. Research showed that animals, while intelligent, tended to become more docile in the darkness and when in small areas. Thus, a steel box, cleverly disguised as a tree with careful construction paper cutouts was propped up with a wooden stick with a string tied around it leading back to Aya, and a half-frozen fish placed on the ground beneath the box.

The tiger had appeared again, and Aya tensed in readiness- but the tiger knocked over the stick too early, making the trap spring too soon. The tiger proceeded to calmly knock the box over, pick up the fish, and stalk out of the park majestically.

Plan two: Failure.

Plan Three: Concealed Pit. It was apparently a staple in tiger, heffalump, woozle, and panther hunting according to all books Aya had read. First one dug a pit, then put a thin cover of leaves and branches over the pit's mouth. Then, one put some sort of food enticement on top of the covering.

All Aya managed to catch were two bicyclists, three angry pedestrians, one surprised couple, and four laughing children.

Plan Three: Failure.

Plan Four: Determine normal routine. Currently underway. End result: Unknown.

Aya opened up the small map on her phone, red and blue dots instantly appeared. Each red dot was a point where the tiger had been spotted by her, each blue a rumored location. The tiger had a habit of appearing only in wide open areas, where there weren't many people. It also had a tendency to appear where the buildings were older, seemingly untouched by the march of time.

Thus- Aya was going to explore the oldest parts of the city.

Aya pulled on dark sunglasses to help disguise the fact that she was in another gang's territory, and began to walk. While Justice High was close by, it was still a fair distance by foot. The public buses were not to be entered into for any reason. People who entered the buses in Comic City didn't come back.

Streets passed, familiar fading into unfamiliar, mostly unnoticed by the teen focused on her phone and on the dark nooks and alleyways stretching out before her feet. Shops, people, and cars passed by, acknowledged but not thought of.

For two hours, Aya wandered the streets fruitlessly, not minding where she walked so long as it was within her range. She didn't expect to see anything- the probability of finding the tiger today was below two percent.

Aya just hoped that she would.

The phone in her hand beeped, and went off, playing a tune that was apparently a pop culture hit. The teen hit the answer button, "This is Aya Jordan speaking."

"Aya. Where are you?" Razer's curt voice suddenly brought Aya back down to Earth, where her feet were beginning to hurt from so much walking. She glanced around, quickly locating the road she was on.

"I'm on Fawcette Boulevard."

"Faw- That's half-way across the city! What are you doing all the way over there you stupid moron?"

Aya was about to answer, she really was- But a ten-year-old boy walked past her, heading for an apartment building, and there in the backyard, almost hidden by the bushes and trees was the tiger. "Razer, I'm afraid this will have to wait, I have located the subject and preparing to pursue."

The teen shut him off before he could protest, and pulled out the camera, memorizing the address in a flash. Then, slowly and as stealthily as Aya could, she began to stalk towards the tiger, trying to get an angle where the tiger would be visible clearly within the picture-

As if sensing her intentions, the tiger's head rose. Aya snapped a picture reflexively. By the time she had lowered the phone (the picture on the screen showed the tiger leaping away) it was gone.

Aya pouted and sighed.

The phone died from overuse before it could save the picture.

Aya nearly cried at the loss of her hard work.

"Hey miss, are you okay?" The ten-year-old.

"I am fine."

"If you're sure…" The child peered at her for a second, before running down the street to where another child on crutches was waiting.

"C'mon Billy! We're gonna be late!"

Aya settled onto a low wall, feet brushing against the ground. Razer would be coming for her. And with her phone dead… Aya swore she closed her eyes only for a moment, but when she opened them again, Razer was at her side, gently touching her shoulder.

* * *

—Razer's Story—

Oh joy. The bell just rung. Whoop de doo.

Razer stuffed papers and textbooks into his bag, scowling darkly. Today was Friday- which meant anger management psychologists hired by his parents in an attempt to soothe his ills.

He was doing just fine thank you. No matter what Walker may say about psychologists and trauma, Razer just didn't feel the older man's want to help- only to look down on him, and he was determined not to make a single step of this any easier then he absolutely had too.

If it were up to him, Razer would've found someone else. Since he absolutely had to get counseling, it might as well be with someone he actually liked, like the woman who was just next door and actually bothered smiling at him and pretending she was glad to see him. Her he could stand, even if he couldn't stand one tiny little thing about her.

Miss Brown had a pet rabbit. Razer hated that rabbit, and the rabbit hated him. Every single time he opened the door it-

"Razer, come along, we don't want you to be late."

Mother. Waiting for him. With a car.

Razer nearly walked back into the school. "Mother, what are you-"

"You've been late this week. Wednesday was when the psychologist called and said if you're late any longer, there would be a fee."

Ah, now that was more like it. Razer smiled dryly as he slipped into the car, shoulders tightening in the enclosed space. He hated cars, hated them with a burning, fiery passion, and his mother knew that so why was she here with a car, and why wouldn't she just buy him a bicycle or something like that so she just didn't have to bother with him any longer?

Mother dropped into the front seat, and barely glanced away from her phone as she texted with one hand and drove with the other. Razer's hands clenched around the seatbelt, going utterly stiff and still in an attempt to convince himself he was not going to crash, he was _not _going to crash, _they were going to crash _-

"Razer. Snap out of it. We're here." Mother looked upset. Razer pulled his hands away, surprised he hadn't managed to make himself bleed.

Something warm and wet trickled down his palm. _Oops. Did it again. _He grimaced, hiding the palms of his hands from Mother, so she didn't start fussing over him bleeding in her car. Razer really needed to cut his nails.

"In you go. I'll pick you up at five o'clock sharp-"

"Don't bother. I'll walk home." He didn't give her a chance to argue, as he quickly moved up the granite steps to the tall building. It was a highly reputable, utterly dispassionate clinic. Razer hated it all, from the gleaming granite floors, to the arched white roof, and it's pretty stained-glass windows.

The front office was empty when he arrived, except a slightly bored mother, reading a magazine. He could hear a child's happy shrieks from within the third room, where Miss Brown worked, and Razer took a step back. Slowly. Discretely. With great purpose and fear.

Miss Brown was a child psychologist. She had pets. She had puppets. She had _paint_. If that kid burst in through the doorway with a bucket load of paint, then Razer just knew it would-

The door slammed open as the child practically danced out, holding a dyed red rabbit above his head.

The rabbit and the teen locked eyes. The world slowed down, pausing for just a moment as powerful hind legs gathered beneath the fat, tubby body. Abruptly, the rabbit was airborne, flying across the room in an incredible leap that should not of been aerodynamically possible.

Razer barely had time to feel his eyes go wide, before WHAM!

Face full of rabbit.

"ARRRRGHHHHHH! GET THIS STUPID LITTLE BEAST OFF OF ME!" Razer clawed desperately at the furry monster clinging to his head, scrambling for a better position. A surprised shriek caught him off guard, and his head turned quickly to where the woman was covering her child's eyes, as Miss Brown stood in the doorway with a hand covering her mouth.

Hands clenched into fists, as Razer ground out through gritted teeth. "Get this thing off of me."

The little kid began to giggle. _Giggle. At him. Because there was a rabbit on his head. _"You look like you've got a really cool helmet Mister! Wait right there! I wanna draw it!"

The kid rushed back into the room. The mother and the psychologist looked to Razer. Razer glowered back. "Get. It. Off."

"C-Could you please wait for a few moments?" Miss Brown chirruped, suddenly smiling as well, "It's been a long time since we could make Michael laugh. I think you could really help him by doing this."

The mother looked slightly worried, glancing between teen and Miss Brown. Razer took a step forward- The woman flinched back. Lips compressed of a few seconds, before he collapsed into the nearest seat, sulking, "Fine. But I better not be late to my own appointment."

"Don't worry about it, I'll talk to your psychologist, and say that you're doing a session with me today." Ms. Brown promised, eyes twinkling as the child came running back out, paper and pencil in hand.

The child settled down a good distance, as the rabbit began to nibble on red hair. Razer glowered even harder at Ms. Brown, who seemed to be overcome with a case of the giggles. "Get me a carrot or something so that way this g-" He paused, and corrected his language, "_Silly _rabbit stops eating my hair!"

"I've never seen Dragon so taken with anyone."

"Dragon? This rabbit's name is dragon?" Razer gaped at her for a moment.

"Yes. We named it after it's ears." Ms. Brown giggled again, "When they're at rest, it looks like dragon horns."

"It's really, really hard to draw." Michael murmured, tongue sticking out from between his teeth. "But it's really, really cool."

The child was a surprisingly good drawer as well. Instead of stick figures and crude lines, they were semi-straight and neat. Cartoonish, to be certain, but an overall softening of the lines that made him tough.

"You got some neat scars mister. Where did you get them?"

_Car tires squealing, the sound of a scream, smell of smoke _"Car crash. Hate cars now, that's why I'm in here."

The child nodded, unjudging of his fear. "I don't like cars either. Daddy had a long reach."

Not quite the same, but both were awful. "I'm supposed to get over it, but I'd rather have a motorcycle instead." Razer mentioned casually.

"Cool! You can have a helmet just like this!" The kid held up a picture of the brown-skinned teen with a helmet that had two spikes going straight back. They looked sharp and pointy like knives.

"I don't know sweetheart, he might poke someone's eye out." The mother smiled as she drew one protective arm around the child, hugging him close.

The rabbit bit _hard _on Razer's hair. "OW! STUPID GO-"

Michael flinched. Razer sat back down. "Where's my carrot?"

A bright orange delicacy was dangled in front of his nose. "Here you go."

The rabbit refused to get off his head, despite the carrot being a few inches in front of its nose, taunting it with its withered, yucky-ness. What was he even thinking?

Who actually said yucky? "It really does look cool though. The helmet idea. Maybe if I make it for you?"

It would be pretty cool. Just… there was no way he and Michael would ever meet again. "Sure Michael. You can make it, and leave it in my office, and I'll take a picture of him with the helmet on, okay?"

Michael beamed.

Razer barely, just barely resisted the urge to facepalm.

The rabbit refused to come off, no matter how much tugging and gentle coaxing Miss Brown attempted, and at last all four gave up.

Razer spent the entire session talking about his feelings with a rabbit on top of his head. Judging by his psychologists look, he wasn't sure if it was Razer going crazy, or himself. Razer privately hoped that it was him going crazy.

The session was over a whole twenty minutes early, just in time to miss Michael according to Ms. Brown.

"Also, I'm really sorry to ask this of you, but would you please put this helmet on?"

"If you can get this stupid rabbit off, then I will gladly put the helmet on." It was constructed of cardboard paper, glue, tape, and prayers. "It's just one picture, right?"

"Well, a nice diorama of pictures would be preferable…"

Razer very nearly sighed, but instead went for staring at her with a blank face. "A lot of pictures? This isn't going anywhere out of this room, is it?"

"Of course not!" She smiled, "Here, now just hold still."

The rabbit was deftly yanked off (thus cementing a nagging idea that she was secretly a sadist and had sent him off as her idea of fun) and the cardboard helmet plopped on instead. She lifted the camera- and lowered it again. "Take off your clothes."

Razer choked on his own spit. "Excuse me?!"

"Take off your hoodie. It's too big and bulky. It's ruining the shot. With a helmet like that, your clothes should be streamlined." The woman gestured impatiently as Razer stared at her incomprehensibly for a few moments longer.

"Well, take it off!"

He took off the hoodie.

"Perfect, and look, you're wearing a red shirt! It goes along perfectly. Really brings out the blue in your eyes."

"I thought you were a psychologist, not a fashion designer!"

"Oh, you silly boy, I _used _to be a fashion designer. Still do on my free time."

He couldn't believe it. The woman snapped a picture, and circled in around him. "The lighting is really horrible in here, and there's so much extra colors cluttering up the photo. It really is too bad."

Razer stood perfectly still.

"Good, now scowl, all dark and mysteriously."

Razer settled for a glare. Ms. Brown shrugged. "Close enough."

She continued taking pictures for a few moments longer, and then held up a finger, "Now give a nice big smile for Michael, and make sure there's teeth in that smile."

The teeth were bared in a primal snarl of fury.

"Smile. Pretend a bird is perched on your head, telling you dating advice." The unimpressed look she got made her sigh in sorrow.

"Fine. What's one plus two?"

"Three?" As he answered, he felt his mouth pull into an automatic smile.

The camera clicked, and Ms. Brown laughed. "Thank you for the pictures!"

Razer glowered at her for a moment longer, and she tapped one delicate finger against the camera. "So then, what's your email address? I want to send you these pictures after all."

"Like I'm telling you."

"You can either tell me, or I'll come to your school and give it to you in person."

Razer entertained the dizzying, very brief idea of Ms. Brown meeting Salaak. His mind couldn't get past Salaak just staring at her in his perfectly cold fury as Ms. Brown tried to tie ribbons in his hair.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Then e-mail. And phone number. I promise not to abuse it!"

In roughly five minutes, Razer found himself on the steps of the building, phone still clutched in one hand, helmet off, but what suspiciously felt like poop in his hair. He lifted his phone, hesitating.

Mom had said she would be here but it was only around four, and she wouldn't be there until five. Besides, he and Aya had a system. They would meet after his sessions and go play arcade games where he could shoot as many people as he wanted.

Hal didn't have a gaming system, and Walker was busy Friday nights trying to get Arkillo to focus long enough to pay attention to school work, so he and Aya entertained themselves.

Razer pressed the call button.

It rung, and switched over to annoying song that Razer knew vaguely off of some sort of billboard top ten or something. Aya had probably chosen it for its value of -

"This is Aya Jordan speaking."

"Aya. Where are you?" She was probably near his current location.

"I'm on Fawcette Boulevard."

"Faw- That's half-way across the city! What are you doing all the way over there you stupid moron?" She had to of been walking for hours to get to Fawcette Boulevard, and it was all the way in Justice Gang territory.

He waited impatiently for his answer, when she said breathlessly, "Razer, I'm afraid this will have to wait, I have located the subject and preparing to pursue."

Subject? _Subject? _The phone clicked off, and Razer turned on his heel, dashing for the main street. He'd catch a cab there, despite the fact that he didn't do well in cars. But he had to stop Aya before she went and did something stupid.

The taxi ride was every bit as nerve wracking as he could possibly imagine, despite the fact that the older gentlemen took each turn smoothly, actually stopped for red lights, and was a mile or two beneath the speed limit.

Fawcette Boulevard came into view, with Aya sitting on a low wall, phone in hands, dozing away peacefully. Razer tossed a few bills at the driver, and got out of the car. He would rather walk home then take that taxi ever again.

"Aya? Aya, are you okay?"

She stirred, and smiled up at him, a small tilt of her lips that most people couldn't- didn't see. "Razer. It is good to see you. Is your session over?"

"Yeah, it is. What were you doing all the way out here?"

"I located the tiger. But unfortunately my phone died before I could save the picture."

The tiger. Of course the tiger. It was always the tiger. Razer rolled his eyes as he tugged her to her feet, making sure that she could still stand. "You going to be okay walking back? Or should I call for a taxi?"

"You do not like cars." Aya replied, in a way that most would consider cold. Razer knew differently; Aya had difficulty expressing emotion, especially spoken emotion. It was her smaller motions, like the way her eyes softened when she said something, when a tiny line appeared between her eyebrows to express concern-

Aya was difficult to understand until one deciphered her motions, and then suddenly she was the kindest, bravest, most strongly willed person he had ever met.

And maybe, just maybe, it was something that he-

Razer turned away abruptly, "If your feet are hurting, we can take a car. It's fine."

"I do not wish to cause you discomfort." A small, petite hand was placed on his shoulder.

Razer continued staring off in the distance as he insisted, "It's fine. If you're hurting, then we should take a cab back to Hal's place."

"But our gaming-"

"We'll do it another time." Razer said softly.

Aya's hand tightened for just a moment. "My feet do not hurt badly enough to get blisters, and I would like to walk with you Razer."

Razer finally turned around to look at her. She looked him back right in the eye, back straight and body posture perfect. As always. "Fine. But if you ever want to call a cab, just tell me. I got their number saved on my phone."

Aya nodded, and side-by-side, the two set off, slowly tracing the streets back to Jordan's apartment.

* * *

—Walker's Story—

Walker was always the last to leave class. Not because he had to pack, but because of his inability to leave without first talking to the teacher. As his home teacher was Larfleeze, and Larfleeze had a tendency to hoard everything, it was up to Walker to make sure that everything was properly sorted out and given back to their proper owners.

Most days of the week he didn't mind, but today was Friday, which meant that today was drama club, and they always needed an extra hand to help set up and prep the stage. Though the teacher did say today was going to be different…

"Noooo! Miiinnneeee!" Larfleeze's grabby fingers curled around a small iPod, as the student practically looked close to tears.

Walker walked over to Larfleeze, gently holding out his hand. "Come on Larfleeze, you know very well that isn't yours. It's Monica's."

The girl shot him a grateful look as Larfleeze glared. The teacher clung onto the small machine for a moment longer, but Walker didn't give up; "Is it really yours that you bought Larfleeze?"

The teacher grumbled, before excruciatingly slowly handing it over to Walker. Walker handed it back over to Monica, who grabbed it, thanked him profusely, and practically ran out of the room.

Walker watched her go with a slight smile. Larfleeze grumbled as he picked his man-satchel from off the ground, and looped it around his neck. "Out."

Larfleeze always locked his room up before all the other teachers, before most other students even got out, to keep them from stealing his stuff. Walker guided the last other student out as Larfleeze impatiently tapped his foot against the floor- his door had a special key and lock.

No one knew when the teacher had installed his own locks so not even the janitor could get in there, but he had. The fight that had ensued afterwards… well, it was legendary. Salaak and Larfleeze still refused to talk about what had really gone down that resulted in there being only one changed lock instead of five that Larfleeze originally had but Walker suspected-

"Arkillo! Arkillo!" The black teen quickly dodged the crowds, heading straight for the bright yellow mohawk that was half a head taller then most of the other teens. "Arkillo!"

The yellow-gang member stopped, glaring down at him. "What?"

"Cooking Club has been canceled later today, but the blue gang needs to meet up, so I'll be doing that shortly after drama club ends."

Arkillo nodded, filing away the information. Despite the rumors that Arkillo was stupid, Walker had found that he had a really good memory and knack for remembering territories and back streets. He was just really, really bad at the written part of language.

"Football practice doesn't end until around six, probably going to go later tonight because of that stupid-" Arkillo's curses were many and varied, but Walker had already filed away the pertinent information, and was mentally plotting out how long it would take, and where they could meet. Arkillo refused to let Walker anywhere near where he lived, and the registered address that was placed to his name was completely fake so…

"Can you meet at seven thirty then? We can go to my place to study and then Mogo can drop you off at your house."

"Hmph. I still don't see what grades have to do with anything."

"You do want to graduate this year, don't you?" Walker said gently, no sting or venom in his voice. "You've gotten this far, so let me help you the rest of the way."

Arkillo glowered for a moment longer, before storming away. Walker sighed as he scratched the back of his head- either Arkillo would show, or he wouldn't. The other teen, as far as he knew, didn't have a cellphone. It was impossible to get in contact with him.

He shrugged as he walked into the tiny, run down stage the school had- the drama teacher was standing on stage with a maniacal gleam in his eye, giggling as the drama students lined up, "Listen up, we're going to be combining a few things- cleaning and singing."

The members of the club groaned, but it needed to be done, and Walker handed out brooms, cloths, and kept a duster for himself. "Now then, we're picking a song, and as part of your training, I'm going to number you off. Each of you are going to sing in order, but you'll be on entirely different sides of the room, so remember to sing from your diaphragm not your lungs."

"Yessir!"

Students scattered in all directions, and Walker began the quick climb up to the small catwalk hung along the top of the ceiling where the lights dustily shed their load to the ground.

He could hear the others singing below, tossing clothes at each other, and fumbling as they tried to learn how to sing from their diaphragm while bent over. He was number five, smack in the middle, so Walker counted off easily, listening for when the girl before him sang her line.

"Down in New Orleans. Doo-doo-do-dah, do do dooo do do."

It was fun, enjoyable, to be here singing with the others, and Walker enjoyed every minute of the two hours, as the Theater was cleaned from top to bottom, even if everyone's voices gave out after the first thirty minutes.

Five o'clock rolled around, the club session ending with the theater looking like it was only twenty years old instead of a hundred, and dusty, dirty tired members of the drama separated, chewing on the cookies that Walker had brought along from home expressly for this purpose.

The black teen grinned as he wiped sweat away from his forehead, trotting in the direction of a small park near where the Blue Gang, his own gang, gathered. Theirs was a small group, and spread all across Lantern territory, and different classes. It was only during these meetings that they even caught a glimpse of each other-

"Warth! I see we've grown some!"

The large teen turned, and wrapped him in a giant hug. "Walker! It is good to see you! Welcome back! Meet Sercy, the newest member of our groups, you should've seen her talk that gang down. Hymn recruited her to our cause."

Walker peeked around Warth's big body to where the reserved woman sat in a wheelchair, hajib around her head, and quiet eyes on him. "So you are Walker, the founder of the Blue Gang?"

Walker nodded, "I am. And you are Sercy?"

"I am."

"Welcome to the Blue Gang."

A slow smile curved her lips upwards, as she nodded back, "Thank you… Walker."

"I was just about to start working her through the rules of the Blue Gang before you came by Walker. Now you can have the chance-"

"Arkillo? What's he doing around here?" Walker interrupted, peering over Warth's shoulder in the direction of the tall, broad-shouldered teen with a backpack slung over one shoulder striding along the road.

Then he grimaced, realizing just how rude that was, "Ah, I'm sorry Warth."

"No problems. Looks like you're not gonna be here for this meeting, huh?"

Walker grimaced slightly; while the other members didn't exactly need guidance, Walker still wanted to know how everything was going- "Sunday I'm volunteering at the same soup kitchen you do, so I can pass on the information." Warth promised, before shoving the black teen in the direction of where Arkillo was rapidly disappearing down, "Now, better go catch your student before he vanishes on you. You said you were going to make him graduate this year after all."

Walker nodded, darting down the road to where the yellow-toting teen wearily tromped down roads without a real purpose. Football had to of gotten out early. "Arkillo!"

The large teen froze, foot hovering a hairsbreadth above the pavement, before he turned, fire beginning to burn in his eyes, "What do you want?!"

Walker pulled to a stop, hesitant, "Are you okay Arkillo? Did football practice get out early?"

"Yeah. Someone spiked Kilowogs drink."

"Oh no!"

"He just got drunk. But we broke up early because he was too drunk to open up the shed. Gardner took him home, and told us to break it up for the night."

So Arkillo hadn't had any football practice today? Why hadn't the teen gone home then? "Well, I have free time right now, and so do you, would you like to come to my place and work on homework? You have to do it sometime after all."

"Fine." Arkillo was surprisingly quiet today, and Walker couldn't help but worry. Normally the larger teen would be raging and yelling, but for the past few days, Arkillo had been unusually quiet in the back of class- he wasn't getting enough sleep, that was for certain.

But Walker got the feeling that it was more than just that. Either way…

"Come on, my place is only a short distance from here."

Arkillo sneered half-heartedly as he followed Walker. "You're a rich kid? Makes sense."

"My guardian, Mogo, is head of a large corporation the specializes in natural, green resources." Walker hedged, "We have worked out a series of jobs to gain my allowance-"

Arkillo practically roared, "Did I ask?! Do I look as if I care?"

"Sorry Arkillo, come, let's get homework over with."

They walked in silence together, Arkillo obviously fuming, and Walker mentally struggling for something to say. The inner city quickly melted to suburban open space, and a slightly richer locale.

Walker pointed ahead, towards the end of the block. Traditional suburban houses lined the way, up until the very end, where a traditional Japanese home sat. The low, sloping, curving roof sticking out like a sore thumb with its thick bamboo walls.

The house, and its property, took up an entire block. People joked that once you got within the walls, it was like being on an entirely separate planet. Or, that's what Walker felt- the property was huge, sprawling, vast, and Mogo had a tendency to completely rearrange every last plant and rock every few years, in an ever changing quest to make it seem both homely and grand.

Walker pulled out his keys as Arkillo stared narrow-eyed at the low walls. "It'd be easy to get over these walls."

"Yes, but Mogo apparently planted electrical fencing on the other side, so if you dropped down from above you'd be knocked unconscious in a second."

Walker shouldered open the gates, and together they walked into what felt like another world.

Birds fluttered through plants, chasing bugs and each other in cart-wheeling frivolity, small flowers kissed by bright sunlight, the sounds of trickling, free-flowing water muted in the background beneath the haze of noisy insects.

"Sometimes I cannot believe you Walker."

"Mogo should be in the backyard, with his pet falcons and ospreys. He usually takes them out to train around this time."

"He's a hunter? I'm surprised-"

"They cannot stop their nature, and Mogo sees no problems as long as they can tell the difference between a wild animal and a pet." Walker frowned- Just because he was a nice person, didn't mean he didn't know how real life worked. Meat eaters ate meat, otherwise known as other animals.

"And here I thought you would be a big whiner about it."

Walker laughed as he pulled Arkillo further in, opening the main door- the back of the house had sliding doors, but Mogo had a bit of a distressing tendency to walk around shirtless when home, which was a little embarrassing when friends came over.

"Welcome home."

Mogo appeared from around the corner, completely shirtless except for an arm guard where the red-tailed falcon perched, gimlet eyes flashing in the light.

Walker glanced back at Arkillo, who was rather openly gaping at Mogo, and back to his guardian. "I'm home Mogo. This is Arkillo, the other teen I told you about."

Mogo smiled slightly as he nodded, a positively effusive greeting for him. "Arkillo this is my guardian Mogo."

"How does that moth-?" Arkillo spat out, eyeing Mogo upward for a fight- Walker grabbed him before he could start swearing at Mogo (Mogo did not approve) and tugged him towards the stairs.

"We're going to go start on homework Mogo! Please try to keep the falcons from flying into my room!"

Arkillo, astonishingly enough, didn't punch him or force him to let go, choosing instead let himself be dragged off in the direction of Walker's room. They were no sooner around the corner, before he at last in his feet and pulled himself to his full height, still at least a head taller then Walker. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"No swearing in the house Arkillo. Mogo's rules."

"You have got to be fu-"

"He'll set his hawks on you to pick your bones clean of meat if you do." Walker pointed out reasonably enough. Mogo, for all of his silence, could be terrifying when angered, and Walker doubted that anyone one-on-one could hurt the man, no matter how powerful Arkillo was.

Arkillo's scowl grew deeper, "I can say whatever I want to say, when I fuc-"

"If you do, we're going to have to leave and go to your place."

That shut him up quick, and Arkillo glowered. "Let's get this over with as soon as possible."

The next few hours were hard. Walker knew that Arkillo was far behind on his studies. He knew that Arkillo wasn't actually even up to senior level but had just been passed on through the school system anyways. It was one thing to know it, and another thing to be presented with a third-grade reading level.

Once he managed to figure out what each word was, Arkillo had the general idea of what each word meant, but it was like pulling teeth to even get him to read it half the time.

Arkillo was not a happy student.

But Walker felt well pleased when Arkillo managed to complete the last of the homework due over the weekend. "Good, your homework's done for the weekend, now I have a question for you- Would you like to join me Saturday? Razer, Aya, and I are going to go see the newest superhero movie."

"No." Arkillo shoved the papers haphazardly into his backpack, ignoring the crinkles.

"But-"

"No."

The larger teen began to walk out of the house, completely bypassing Mogo who was coming down the hallway with a tray of what looked like food. Walker didn't exactly notice either, intent on getting to know Arkillo at least a little better, "Then can I at least have your phone number? In case you change your mind-"

"Don't have one."

"Then how does anyone get in contact-"

"Just tell a yellow gang member you need me, and they know where to find me usually."

Arkillo wasn't stopping in his rampage out the door, ignoring the deepening darkness. "At least let us give you a ride back home-"

"Would you stop being so annoying you stupid idiot! I don't need or want it!"

Walker stopped, hurt by the shout. Arkillo either didn't notice, or didn't care as he stormed out of the door, muttering, "I can't wait until you realize just how much of a waste this is for both of us and give up."

Give up?

_Give up?_

Walker gave up on no one and nothing. He turned back to the silently watching Mogo with a smile, "He's going to be coming around often for homework, so don't be surprised, okay?"

The corners around Mogo's eyes crinkled in response, the sign of amusement as he handed over a small plate of rice crackers. Walker snagged one, and popped the entire thing in his mouth as he relieved Mogo of the tray.

"I'm going to go text Razer the details!"

_Tomorrow afternoon at 1, we meet for movie? – SW_

_Sure thing. – R_

_Tell Aya for me please! – W_

_Tell her yourself! – R_

_But I don't have her number! – W_

It was a white lie, but it would at least dig out some interesting reactions from Razer. Walker didn't touch his phone for the rest of the night.

* * *

Halfway across the city, Razer glowered at his phone- it was late at night, he had just dropped Aya off at Jordan's apartment and was headed home (Aya insisted he stay for dinner since they didn't go to the arcade to play games, and Razer had sent off a cursory text to his parents, and as expected, received nothing back so he stayed for dinner) so why did he have to send the text?

Reluctantly he pulled out up a new text, and tapped a few buttons.

_Tomorrow at 1, want to go for a movie with Walker? – R_

The text came swinging back so fast, he wondered if she had been waiting by her phone. _I would enjoy that very much. – Aya_

_I'll come pick you up. – R_

He sent off the text without thinking about it, and didn't receive an answer back until he walked in through his houses door.

_I will be waiting for you at noon, so we have enough time to walk to the theater. – Aya_

He smiled at the text, falling into bed, without a care. (Aya spent several hours fretting silently over what to wear, before going with green and white)

* * *

—The Teachers—

The long line of teachers laughed as they knocked back beers, laughing and talking about the sports, every last one of them pointedly ignoring the stack of papers stuffed in bags out in cars or backpacks, waiting to be graded.

Screw grading, they were going to celebrate the week being over as much as the kids were.

-end-


End file.
